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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Jul 15, 2015 - 06:50am PT
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I've had good results from wired bliss if they are still around.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jul 15, 2015 - 08:33am PT
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Waterknots - are you guys serious?
Properly reslung cams are safer, lighter, and have less bulk - certainly the way to go if you can afford it.
as far as I know, there are no accidents that had a failed tied sling as the "root cause" of the accident. There was a time where everything was tied, then someone had the idea of swaging cable... sewn runners came later (maybe the collective STForum memory remembers when).
It is probably true that sewn slings have less bulk, and that they may be lighter.
But there is nothing "wrong" or "unsafe" about tying slings.
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Jul 15, 2015 - 10:59am PT
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as far as I know, there are no accidents that had a failed tied sling as the "root cause" of the accident. There was a time where everything was tied, then someone had the idea of swaging cable... sewn runners came later (maybe the collective STForum memory remembers when).
I dimly recall there has been a few. ANAM mentioned a couple and I recall one where a knotted sling around a tree failed (probably due to being improperly tied though).
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Jul 15, 2015 - 11:41am PT
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Brian, I remember an incident reported in ANAM about 45 years ago of a rappelling accident (where, surprisingly, there was no fatality) caused by an improperly tied fisherman's bend. I, too, remember hearing about a tied sling failure or two, but, again, the most likely explanation was an improperly tied knot, rather than the failure of a properly tied one.
John
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Jul 15, 2015 - 11:55am PT
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Here's a more recent one (copied below), and, I recall one I think in Zion in a canyoneering accident in the last couple of years.
Some interesting info on water knots:
http://user.xmission.com/~tmoyer/testing/Water_Knot_Testing.pdf
//From 1998 ANAM:
FALL ON ROCK, EQUALIZED SLING FAILURE
Oregon, Smith Rock State Park
On June 7, a climber was being lowered by his partner after climbing the route, Easy
Reader (5.6) at the Dihedrals in Smith Rock State Park.
After descending about 15 feet, the anchor sling failed sending the climber free falling
approximately 60 feet. He landed on his feet, hip, arm and body in that order, and
suffered numerous fractures.
Other climbers in his group provided immediate care until E M T 's from the Redmond
Fire Department arrived. About 45 minutes after the accident, he was evacuated by
helicopter to a Bend, Oregon hospital.
Analysis
After the evacuation, two climbers climbed an adjacent route to inspect the anchor system.
A locked carabiner remained in each hanger, and a locked and regular carabiner
were on the rope. From this it was concluded that the single, equalized sling failed for
some reason. The lead climber had set up the anchor system and then rappelled down to
belay the climber. For climbers that had considered an equalizing sling bombproof, the
accident came as a shock.
Cause of the failure has not been determined. Two climbers independently inspected
the remaining slings in the leader's pack and found all solid water knots. The sling had
carried the rappel load, but then failed with approximately 80% more weight. Tensile
tests were carried out on slings with knots that were intentionally not dressed (twisted or
folded), but these performed surprisingly near to perfectly tied knots.
One possibility was that the knot did not take a set, and slipped through to the melted
end on rappel, and continued slipping on the victim. Regardless of reason for failure, it
is strongly recommended that setting a single sling, equalized or not, should only be
done after careful deliberation as to the risk. It is recommended that any anchor system
with bolts or gear be set with two independent, bombproof anchors, or at least three
good independent anchors by traditional gear placement. Bombproof means two modem
solid anchor bolts with hangers, solid horns or trees.
Independent slings or quickdraws should be clipped to each anchor point to provide
sufficient back-up for an individual sling or anchor point failure. If one judges the need
for an equalized sling, it should be backed up with the rope or slings slightly longer to
allow equalized movement) to each anchor point. (Source: Michael Dianich)
//
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Jul 15, 2015 - 12:13pm PT
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Good information, Brian. The link, in particular, was interesting, as I've found my own tied ring bends to slip over time, so I always inspect before leaving the ground.
John
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